He Bin came up with the final conditions, and the biggest reaction was Inhofer, who stood up directly from his position. The faces of Van Dimen, Carmen and others also changed very much, because this condition can really move people's hearts.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the term battleship was not even used in the middle of the 17th century, and the battle line of the fleet had become the standard mode of battle.

Moreover, the navies of various countries are well aware that the number of artillery directly determines the basis for the victory of the battleship in the knightly heads-up, therefore, the warships built by the naval powers have more and more guns, and the flagship of the British Navy, the Sea Sovereign, already has a hundred guns, and it also stands out with a cost of nearly 200,000 taels of silver.

The Dutch could not build such a large battleship because of the shallow coastal water, but the displacement of the battleship and the number of guns were steadily increasing.

For example, the double-deck battleship that is now being built at the Amsterdam shipyard, the Breedrod, has a displacement of more than a thousand tons and has fifty-eight heavy guns of more than eighteen pounds.

There are three ways to increase the number of guns on a battleship, one is to increase the gun deck, the second is to lengthen the gun deck, and the third is to use small guns.

It is clear that the third method will not be adopted, such as the six-pounder guns of the Eastern Trading Company, that is, small merchant ships and battleships are used, and in a decisive battle on the battle line, they do not have the ability to penetrate enemy ships.

At present, in a regular naval decisive battle, the lowest effective firepower is at the level of nine-pounder guns, and it is still growing steadily, and in the future, less than eighteen-pounder guns will be ineffective firepower.

And the elongated artillery deck is also limited, because the gun deck of the battleship is limited by the length of the keel, in the case of the Breedrod under construction, its waterline length is forty meters long, which is a battleship with a tonnage of more than 1,000 tons.

Forty meters was also the highest technical level of warship construction in the mid-seventeenth century, and in the near future it would increase to fifty meters, when double-deck battleships had about eighty guns.

Obviously, the best way for a battleship to increase its firepower is to increase the artillery deck, from one to two, that is, double the firepower.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to carry more than thirty-six guns on a single-layer gun deck, and not all of these thirty-six guns are arranged on the gun deck, and some of the stern and bow towers are also arranged. Even with a forty-meter artillery deck, only twenty-six heavy guns can be arranged on a single floor.

This is still a heavy cruiser, the average single-deck battleship, that is, a cruiser, has between twenty and thirty guns, while the Dutch East India Company has dozens of such warships.

This is not the strongest warship of the East India and Du Company, and its strongest warships are those that are generally more than 800 tons and more than 1,000 tons of the East India galleon, also known as the returning galleon.

These armed merchant ships, which had two decks, but only one of which was an artillery deck, so there were only twenty-eight to thirty-six guns, and if necessary, they could be transformed into more than fifty heavy gunboats, or even more than seventy, and directly became the flagship of the Dutch Navy.

Therefore, the Oriental Trading Company could only build cruisers, which meant that within the treaty period, the Dutch East India Company could impeach the Oriental Trading Company at any time without any changes.

For Van Dimen and Inhofer, their greatest concern was the cooperation of the Oriental Trading Company with the Spaniards.

Because the Spaniards had the ability to build super warships, Manila galleons, that thing could easily be transformed into a warship with seventy guns.

Although the number of Spaniards was very small, every time the Dutch East India and Du Company came to the door, they would be deflated on the hull of the Manila galleon. Moreover, the Spaniards still have various Galen ships in the Philippines, and Van Dimen does not want another similar opponent.

But the single-gun deck clause solves it all perfectly.

"Excellencies, do I leave or wait for you to decide." He Bin was very satisfied with the reactions of these people and asked with a smile.

Matt Solko smiled: "He, the terms you came up with are very important, we need to discuss, so please go to the reception room for tea." ”

Matsolko got up, personally sent He Bin to the reception room, and then turned back, he said: "Your Excellency, Admiral Inhofer, what about this clause of the Eastern Company?" Can the two of them change their attitude towards the Oriental Company? ”

"As far as I know, the Ming people have built warships that are more than three hundred and twenty feet, and they may only have one artillery deck, and they can also gain an advantage." Inhove said.

Rod laughed: "Yes, Inhofer, I can use my entire net worth to bet with you, in this world, you can't build such a big warship out of wood, do you dare?" If they had built such a large ship, why did we come to the East to establish colonies, and not to them to establish colonies in Europe? ”

Matt Solko said, "Admiral, you don't need to play your language to deceive the crowd. Rhodes comes from a family of shipbuilders, and he is more specialized in the field of shipbuilding than you. And I also know that the kind of ship you are talking about exists in the records of the Ming Kingdom books.

But their book records are all arbitrary, and they don't pay attention to science and facts.

Let's put it this way, in our war with Nicholas, the Ming officials once said that our warship was sixty zhang long, which was equivalent to 700 Dutch feet. As an admiral, I would like to ask you, which ship in the company is more than 700 feet long? ”

Inhofer stopped talking, and with some data of Zheng He's fleet, he could only deceive people who had no knowledge of sailboats, and he could not deceive any of the seven people present.

Matt Sokol looked at Van Diemen: "Your Excellency, may I ask you, do you still consider the Eastern Company to be a threat?" ”

Fan Dimen's face was expressionless, and he said: "After talking for so long, I have a little dry mouth. Mark, I heard that you got a particularly good set of Ming porcelain, and it just so happens that I have some tea from Fujian, can you entertain everyone? ”

"Of course, I'll pick it up now." Matt Solko said.

He left the conference room and waited at the door for a while, then waited for Fan Dimen, who came out to relieve him, and the two went to get the tea set together.

In the conference room, Matsolko drank tea with the members of the committee, and when he brought the topic back to business, Van Diemen was no longer stubborn, but said: "If the Eastern Company only builds single-gun deck ships, then I think the threat of the Eastern Company will be reduced to a minimum, at least in the short term."

But whether or not to cooperate and trade with them, I think it is still necessary to determine whether their influence in Guangdong is as claimed.

In addition, in relations with the Spaniards, we want to try to get them on our side as much as possible. Let this group of Ming merchants know that we are hostile to Spain. ”

Matt Solko nodded: "I think the Governor has thought very thoroughly, and that envoy surnamed He can't solve the current problem, so I'm going to go and see for myself, everyone, are you willing to trust my personal judgment?" ”

"Of course, dear Mark, you are the most trustworthy of all." Van Dimen was the first to say.

He said so, and the rest of the people naturally did not object, so it was voted that the director general, Matsolko, would go north and sign the agreement as appropriate, and the specific terms would need to be carefully discussed.

When the meeting was dismissed, Matsolko laughed with Rod and the others and left, and Inhofer asked, "Your Excellency, what's the matter, why did you give in?" ”

Fan Dimen let out a sigh, pinched the corners of his forehead, and said: "The Oriental Company will bring us too much profit, which everyone can't refuse." You want to declare war on the Eastern Company, but with Mark here, he will use the committee's voting power to veto.

So, after a year and a half, we can only practice the will from Amsterdam, or Mark them victory.

So, I used my relationship with the Oriental Company to make a deal with Mark. ”

"What deal?"

Van Dimen said: "During my tenure, he will support me in launching an all-out attack on the Spaniards in the Philippines. This is my last conquest, success or failure, I have to do it once. Inhofer, my most sincere friend, isn't it also your long-cherished wish to defeat the Manila fleet? ”

"Yes, I will set foot on the infidel ships and light a fire that their blood cannot quench." Inhove said.

He didn't insist anymore, Inhofer didn't feel the Oriental Trading Company, he liked war, he liked to build meritorious deeds, as long as there was a goal, the Oriental Trading Company could, the Spaniards were better. In his opinion, the victory over the Spaniards was more honorable.

Twenty days later, Hong Kong.

At this time, Hong Kong was extremely chaotic, full of construction sites, the only orderly place was the military camp, and it was full of noisy sounds.

Accompanied by Li Zhaoji, Matsolko inspected the training of the Eastern Brigade, and there was no live ammunition to shoot targets today, but the momentum of training formations and practicing offense and defense had already shocked Matsolko.

Didn't Moder say that the Oriental Trading Company was armed with only a thousand people, and why were there six thousand people standing here.

"Only this half are my soldiers, Your Excellency the Director-General. The other half belonged to the Ming court.

And the other half of my soldiers are following the Ming general to fight against a group of thieves. Li Zhaoji said with a smile.

Matsolko felt that this was even more shocking than the fact that the Oriental Trading Company had 6,000 soldiers, and he asked, "Mr. Li, are you also an official of the Ming Dynasty now?" ”

"Why, Your Excellency the Director-General, does this matter to you Dutch? If it is important, please let me know, and I can immediately put on the official robe of the Ming Dynasty and negotiate with you. Do you like to talk to civilian officials, or to generals, whatever you want. Li Zhaoji didn't want to answer directly, so he said half-jokingly.

Matt Solko smiled and said, "No, that's good, the people of the Ming Kingdom have a lot of rules, which is annoying." And I don't want you to be the second official. ”

"Believe me, I'm more contracted than Nikolai." Li Zhaoji said: "Where else do you want to go, it's almost time for dinner." ”

"I heard that you own a bank, and many Guangdong nobles are shareholders." Matt Solko asked.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Yes, but I suggest you visit tomorrow afternoon." ”

"Why?"

"The bank building is under construction, and the first thing to be built is the treasury, and tomorrow there will be a batch of silver in it. A lot of shareholders will be there, and when the time comes, I'll introduce you to those friends of mine. Yes, they all know you're Dutch, but if asked, you'll say you're Portuguese. ”

"Don't worry, sir, I'm here to negotiate, not to cause trouble. I know that in the past, our company had some conflicts with Mingguo, but it won't be like this forever. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Of course, I promised to let your company's ships come to Hong Kong to trade, and I will definitely do it." ”

"I believe in you, and in your eyes I see a sincerity that I have never seen before." Matt Solko said that on the way to Hong Kong, he was still skeptical, but when he arrived on the island and saw everything on the island, his attitude completely changed, and cooperation with the Oriental Company has become inevitable, but the details need to be discussed again.

Li Zhaoji said: "Your Excellency, I don't have any horses here, so I can only ask you to take a donkey cart, come, please get on the cart with me, and we will walk around together." ”

"Are you going to buy something?"

"No, I think, you need a piece of land, and then leave a sum of money, and when you come next year, there will be a merchant house that belongs to your company."

Matt Solko laughed, "Okay, it looks like it's been a busy day, but I like to be busy." ”

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